Question

Why does the speaker disagree with native burial customs?

a) The speaker believes that death is an eternal sleep.
b) The speaker believes people should not be buried with every day objects.
c) The speaker believes Native Americans will rest well in the afterlife.
d) The speaker believes that death should not be joyful.

Answer 1

The speaker believes that death is an eternal sleep.

Answer 2

a) The speaker believes that death is an eternal sleep.

Step-by-step explanation:

Philip Morin Freneau's poem "The Indian Burying Ground" is about the speaker's recent visit to a burial ground of the Native Americans. This imaginative analysis of such burying grounds and contrasts it with the more 'decent' burial of the 'civilized' Europeans.

In the poem, the speaker reveals his opinion about burying the dead, "I still my old opinion keep; the posture that we give the dead, points out the soul's eternal sleep". And contrary to this, he reveals how the native tribes bury their dead, "seated with his friends, and shares again the joyous feast." He also points out his belief of the very nature of burial of the Indians, "activity, that knows no rest."

Thus, to the speaker, death is an eternal sleep.