At the beginning of Henry Fielding’s novel Tom Jones (1749), it appears his mother is Jenny Jones, servant of Squire Allworthy.
By the end of the novel, his true mother is revealed: Bridget, Squire Allworthy’s sister.
Captain Ahab’s first mate in Melville’s MobyDick is Starbuck, the second is Stubb, the third is Flask.
Washington Irving is believed to have originated the expression “the Almighty Dollar” in Wolfert’s Roost (1855).
Henry David Thoreau wrote “That government is best which governs least”, in his essay, “Civil Disobedience” (1849).
Nelson Algren received the first National Book Award for Fiction in 1950 for The Man with the Golden Arm.
Henry James created Roderick Hudson, in the 1876 novel of the same name.
Bertolt Brecht follows the general outline of English playwright John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728), but focuses more on social evils in The Threepenny Opera.