Huckle Thorpe
Period-3
10/8/14
Mr. Holland’s Opus
Argumentative essay

Mr. Holland’s main goal in life was to compose and conduct his own music and become famous for it. As his life went on, he got married and had a son and was forced to get a job as a high school band teacher, his plans had to change and his dream of composing music was pushed further and further away. Mr. Holland tried to be very successful in the three main areas of his life. He wanted to be a good husband and father, be good at composing music and also be a good teacher. He tried his best in all of these areas of his life but because there was not quit time for all of them and some were a higher priority some of these areas were more successful than others.
Mr. Holland was married and had one child, a boy named Cole. They started off as a perfectly normal family but as Cole got older they started to realize that something was not right with him. They later found out that he was deaf. This changed everything for their family, because of this they had to put him into a special school for the deaf and they both had to learn sign language so that they could communicate with their son. This was also very hard for the family because of their deep love and appreciation of music. At first Mr. Holland was not very good at being a father. He wasn’t very good at sign language so he struggled to communicate with his son. He also struggled, because he felt that because his son was deaf he would never develop a love and understanding of music. This caused a lot of tension between the two of them; but as time went on he became a much better father to Cole. He learned sign language and found several ways for his son to be able to see and feel music because he could not hear it. This helped their relationship a lot and they became very good friends which helped his relationship with his wife too.
Throughout his entire life Mr. Holland always wanted to write and conduct his own music. He tried to compose whenever he had time, but as he grew up and got a job and family those things came first and composing music became replaced by grading papers, teaching the marching band, being a driver’s ED instructor, and learning sign language and spending time with his family. He tried to compose whenever he could but struggled to find time for it so every chance he got he had to cherish. He never succeeded in this portion in his life and never got to enjoy it and do it for a living as he had once dreamed of. But he was able to still enjoy music and love it throughout his life.
When Mr. Holland started