Books like Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger and To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee use the length of the novel to confirm the loss of innocence in the characters . For example, Holden in Catcher in the Rye does not show his newfound maturity until the end of the novel, when he eliminates swearing from the playground. It takes the experiences of a novel to make it "grow", just as it happened for John Grady. Cather in the Rye is famous for its coming of age theme, and All the Pretty Horses follows in its footsteps. McCarthy's style is also similar to that of these other authors. He connected because he "shuns the spotlight along with other infamous hermits like J.D. Salinger and Thomas Pynchon" (Miller). This affects his writing just as it affects the works of these other authors, making them more or less more comparable. McCarthy's "writing seems to connect better with an older tradition", linking it similarly to other novels that do the same (Miller). This connection that McCarthy has with these other authors demonstrates that the topic of loss of innocence is a process that happens more than people realize. Whether it is a hidden theme that slowly develops over the course of the novel, as in All the Pretty Horses, or the book's recurring and dominant theme, as in Catcher in the Rye, they can still share the same learning processes within the characters, making them the popular novels that they are