Mayella's Direct Examination

The beginning of chapter 18 starts off with Mayella's direct examination. In her direct examination, Mayella says that her father had sent her to chop up the chiffarobe in the yard, but Mayella wasn't feeling strong enough, so she asked Tom, who was walking by her house at the time, to help her. Mayella went inside to get a nickel for Tom, for helping her. While she was getting a nickel for Tom, she claims that Tom went inside the house and raped her.  She claims that Tom started choking herself. He the says that  he threw her on the floor and took advantage of her there. Some parts of Mayella's side of the story do not make sense and some parts are not the same with Bob's story.

One example of Meyella's story not matching up with Bob's would be when she says that Tom left, and next thing she knows her father was standing over her asking who had done it. Bob tells us that he clearly saw Tom Robinson rape his daughter, and that he saw Tom leave through the front door when he was entering through the back. One thing that does not match up is that Bob had said clearly that he saw who was raping his daughter. However, in Mayella's part of the story, Bob runs in asking who did it. In Bobs part of the story, he never said anything about asking Mayella who raped her, and why would Bob ask Mayella who had raped her if he was positive it was Tom Robinson. We get more information on Mayella's injuries, because Mayella explains that she fainted after her father came in the house and asked her who had raped her, and after she was raped. This, again, raises the question as to why no doctor was called. Mayella should have been taken to a doctor immediately since she fainted because her injuries were so bad.

Mayella puts a lot of emotion during her direct examination. We see her cry several times, sometimes because of the rape, and even one time because she was afraid of Atticus. I think that the emotion that Mayella puts into this testimony will help her side persuade the jury. I think that Mayella was being too dramatic about her breakdowns. For example, she cried just because she was afraid of Atticus. Even Jem says that Mayella has enough sense to make the judge feel sorry for her, which could help the case. I am excited to hear Tom's part of the story, because I think Tom's story will most likely be the actual story of how things happened, since it is pretty obvious that Mayella and Bob are lying in their testimonies. I want to see how different the stories are, and if it has something to do as to why the Ewells changed their stories in the first place. Were the Ewells in danger of something happening to their family, did they simply make this up just to accuse an African American?