"The Waltons," and "Little House on the Prairie" all offer or have offered variations on the Mayberry theme. Most of these shows are consciously anachronistic, returning in either place or time to that happy amalgam of nature and moral civilization so characteristic of the American middle landscape tradition.

The country theme also gets extensive play in advertising. Whereas the West suggests isolation and contemplation, the country suggests companionship-male and female, young and old-and overt happiness. ironically, too, the country also implies a distinctly nonurban purity: a good place to smoke one's cigarettes. The country also evokes a strong sense of nostalgia, a theme that is exploited by concerns as diverse as cameras, soft drinks, cereals, sleeping pills, and laxatives. The country is a tranquil place peopled largely by folks old enough to be hooked on Geritol. Many grandparents live there too.

The Puritan ethic is as ubiquitous a belief as manifest destiny, and it too is an intrinsic part of the American mythic structure. Simplified, the Puritan ethic translates, "God helps those who help themselves." For . . . [more]

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