Well, I got on the road, and I went north to Providence. Met the Mayor…He said, "Morning!" And I said, "You got a fine city here, Mayor." And then he had coffee with me.
– Arthur Miller
Death of a Salesman, Act 1. Willy is talking to his sons in this flashback scene, telling Biff the story of meeting the Mayor of Providence and sharing coffee with him. It is unlikely that Willy ever met the city’s first citizen, never mind got to shoot the breeze with him over coffee. But Willy likes to lie and tell tall tales in order to create the fiction that he is more important that he actually is, especially to his sons.