Great Gatsby Essay - Juxtaposition of social v. personal life

My thesis here is:
"In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's juxtaposition of idealistic social roles versus the sybaritic shortcomings of personal lives illustrates the rampant materialism that ultimately leads to the downfall of the roaring 1920's."

I wanted to use examples along the lines of:
- Daisy not waiting for Gatsby and marrying Tom because Tom had money when Gatsby did not and she wanted money right then thus her materialism won over her personal happiness

- Myrtle Wilson being with Tom for money causing her personal distress at home and then being killed by running towards the car that represented her dream of wealth

- Gatsby throwing extravagant parties and doing what it took to be rich to win Daisy back leading to the exposure of his shady business resulting in his loss of Daisy and ultimate death

I also wanted to incorporate aspects of Fitzgerald's life and how buying on credit/ margin because similarly people desired the social standings that came with material possessions in the 1920s and how this was a major contributor to the Great Depression.

I'm having trouble tying my examples back to my thesis and actually juxtaposing the examples.

I'm not really sure how this website works- I just found it a few minutes ago. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas they would be greatly appreciated!

try to incorporate the sentence within the thesis! make the words flow.

That thesis statement might be too simple and obvious.
Here is the trick: come up with a totally weird thesis that others would perhaps disagree with, and then it is easy to write the essay.

I don't mean TOTALLY WEIRD... but make it some subtle observation that is not obvious. Just be a bit quirky about it. That is how to handle this sort of thing.

And do not just try to relate the examples to the thesis. ADJUST THE THESIS to accommodate the examples. That is how to be flexible in academic writing. It is easy! Just look at it again and see if the real thesis comes into focus.

If you try to write the thesis first, you will always have trouble relating the examples to them. Adjust the thesis as you continue to write.

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