Mayella's story changes most importantly when Atticus delves into the details of Tom's alleged assault on her. Of course, she has a bruise on her eyes, and the story is that Tom gave her the bruise during his assault, when he supposedly hit her in the face. When she describes his attack, she says "he caught me and choked me and took advantage of me." But she does not mention getting hit in the face, a detail Atticus seizes on almost immediately. When he asks her if she remembers getting hit in the face, she directly contradicts her father's account as well as herself in two sentences, stammering, "No, I don't recollect if he hit me. I mean, yes I do, he hit me." She then says that she can't remember because it all happened so fast.
Atticus reveals that Tom is actually disabled, having an atrophied arm, which would have made it very difficult for him to hit her as she described. She begins to recite new details, some of which are contradictory. In particular, she can't explain why nobody in the house—her six siblings in particular—heard her scream. In short, her story falls apart as Atticus seizes on a contradictory aspect of her testimony. Yet none of it matters in the end, as the jury still convicts Tom for rape.
Mayella isn't too steady as a witness from the time she takes the stand. Even on simple questions, like how long she went to school ("Two year—three year—dunno") and how long her mother has been dead ("Don't know—long time") seem to tax her abilities. When Atticus gets into the actual details of her testimony against Tom Robinson, Mayella is clearly trying to remember the details her father provided, as her accusations become conflicting.
When asked if she had ever asked Tom to do odd jobs for her before, she concedes that she might have. She testifies that Tom choked her, and then Atticus asks if he hit her in the face. This is a detail she wasn't prepped for, and she really struggles with how she should answer. After several false starts, she finally lands on, "No, I don't recollect if he hit me. I mean yes I do, he hit me." Atticus then asks Tom to stand so that Mayella can positively identify him as the man who raped her, and it becomes clear that Tom doesn't have use of his left arm. This would make it pretty difficult for him to have choked her. Mayella then changes her story about her facial injuries, saying that she "ducked and it—it glanced off, that's what it did." Finally Atticus asks Mayella why one of her seven siblings who were always underfoot didn't hear her screams for help. Mayella cannot even formulate a response at this point.
Mayella struggles because she's lying—and she's not educated or quick enough to pull off the discrepancies in her story which are revealed on the witness stand.
Mayella doesn't just contradict her own father's testimony; she changes the details of her own in a number of key respects. For instance, when Atticus asks Mayella if Bob has been a good father to her, her answer is somewhat less than convincing:
He does tollable, 'cept when-
Mayella stutters, knowing that she's about to poke a gigantic hole through her testimony. But Atticus persists with his line of questioning and asks Mayella if her father's ever beaten her. Mayella is indignant in response:
My paw's never touched a hair o' my head in my life...
The fact that she looks rather uncertain when she says this speaks volumes. Not long afterwards, Atticus throws her another curve ball asking her if it was the first time that she'd invited Tom Robinson to come inside the fence. After trying to collect herself, Mayella flatly denies she ever asked him to do so, but it isn't very long before she admits that she may have asked Tom to do some odd jobs for her, and it's difficult to see how he could've done them without being invited to come inside the fence.
Then Atticus asks Mayella if she remembered Tom beating her about the face. Again, Mayella's testimony changes in the blink of an eye:
No, I don’t recollect if he hit me. I mean yes I do, he hit me.
Mayella's whole testimony is full of holes. It's blatantly obvious that the story she tells the court is a tissue of fabrications.
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