In Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, Anse Bundren genially manipulates the members of his family and his rural society. Both his children and neighbors keep grumbling about such manipulation, but they continue to comply with his schemes. Not only is Anse incredibly lazy, he also proves himself in the course of the journey to be an accomplished hypocrite. Anse, absurd and often farcical, seems to have evaded the curse of Adam, in that he never sweats. Nevertheless, it is Anse who paradoxically by maintaining his “word” to Addie, drives the wagon almost all the way and overcomes some perilous obstacles on the way. Ridiculously manifesting how he has deluded himself into thinking himself sincere through his monologue, Anse functions as a rather mild but nonetheless effective comic hero. As the head of the Bundren household, Anse stands at the center of the family, and somewhat modifies or assimilates some of the family’s darkness. As befits a comic piece, Anse’s self-centered inertia, defined not necessarily as a weakness but occasionally as a permissible force to achieve his own ends, may be a kind of wisdom in the present age of uncertainty.