I did five hundred gross in Providence and seven hundred gross in Boston…Well, I didn’t figure it yet, but…Well, I – I did – about a hundred and eighty gross in Providence. Well, no – it came to – roughly two hundred gross on the whole trip.
– Arthur Miller
Death of a Salesman, Act 1. Fresh home from a big sales trip, Willy is asked by Linda if he sold anything and he goes straight into exaggeration mode. He lies and boasts of selling five hundred gross in Providence and seven hundred in Boston, leading an excited Linda to look forward to the huge commission her husband will receive. But then Willy admits inflating his numbers and revises them downward to just two hundred gross for the whole trip.