Analyze how Faulkner chooses to structure the text. How does the way he begins and ends the story contribute to its tragic resolution?

The disjointed, non-linear way "A Rose for Emily" is written is intentional, suggesting the way the past and present can co-exist. By moving forward and backward through the decades and interrupting present action with abrupt flashbacks, Faulkner suggests the ways that the past and present affect one another and the people involved in these memories. That the story both begins and ends in the same afternoon of Emily's funeral, yet spans the decades of her...

The disjointed, non-linear way "A Rose for Emily" is written is intentional, suggesting the way the past and present can co-exist. By moving forward and backward through the decades and interrupting present action with abrupt flashbacks, Faulkner suggests the ways that the past and present affect one another and the people involved in these memories. That the story both begins and ends in the same afternoon of Emily's funeral, yet spans the decades of her life, demonstrates how closely events of the past can influence the present.

The nonlinear structure of the text also sets up a mystery for the readers to solve. By the time readers work out just what Emily wanted with the rat poison and what exactly happened to Homer Barron, it's the end of the story, and the townspeople are finding his body. The abrupt shifts in time, place, and event could almost suggest a group of the townspeople gossiping about the mysterious Miss Emily, interrupting each other to get across another piece of the puzzle that is her life. 

One reason that Miss Emily is seen (at least partly) as a sympathetic character despite being a creepy murderer is due to the plot structure. Her murder of Homer Barron is always suggested, never explicit. Furthermore, this climax of the story is buried in the middle, with her buying the rat poison. After that the focus is on whether or not she'll live happily ever after with Barron and how sad it is that he apparently has left forever. The focus is on Miss Emily for the rest of the story, and we don't return to Barron until finding his body in the final scene, which creates at least some tragic pity for crazy Miss Emily.