Who is accused of raping Mayella Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird?

During Atticus's cross-examination of Bob and Mayella Ewell and Tom Robinson in chapters 17 to 19, it becomes apparent that Mayella had not been raped. Both Mayella and her father provide inconsistent testimony and repeatedly change their versions of events on that fateful day, November 21. Mayella, for example, cannot initially remember if Tom hit her or not, and when she is pressed by Atticus to recall what happened, she changes her story. Her testimony is, therefore, unreliable. Tom Robinson, on the other hand, provides a precisely detailed and more authentic account of events. 

The physical evidence presented by Mr. Tate makes it apparent that Mayella had been beaten and choked on that particular day. Tom Robinson also testifies that when Mr. Ewell saw his daughter embracing him, Mr. Ewell shouted that she was a "goddamn whore" and that he was going to kill her. Mr. Ewell was, therefore, more interested in punishing Mayella than apprehending Tom. This response suggests, furthermore, that Mr. Ewell did not see anything wrong with what Tom did. His outrage was directed at his daughter and not at Tom. Mr. Ewell, more than likely, physically assaulted his daughter on this particular occasion and later blamed Tom for her bruises. 

There are further suggestions that Mr. Ewell not only physically and verbally abused his child but that he may also have sexually mishandled her. Mayella, according to Tom, told him that she had never kissed a grown man and that "what her papa do to her don’t count." It is also apparent that she had carefully planned to lure Tom into the house and attempt to seduce him. She had saved up money to send her brothers off for ice cream so that they would not be around at the time. Tom, ironically, innocently complimented her for having saved up the money and giving her siblings a treat.  

Many of Maycomb's residents hold deep racist beliefs and think it an abomination that a white person can have any relations with someone of a different race. The sad truth is that Mayella Ewell sought closer contact with another human being and she tried to create such an engagement by carefully planning a liaison with Tom. Tom's reticence and her father's intervention put paid to her plan, and she turned against Tom and accused him of rape instead of admitting the truth. Mayella's thinking was informed not only by racial prejudice but also by her father's abuse. She most probably feared not only being rejected by her family and the community but also feared for her life. Also, her prejudice was a product of the beliefs that had been inculcated into her since birth.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, who likely assaulted Mayella Ewell?

The testimony of Tom Robinson in Chapter 19 seems completely sincere and credible. It offers the best explanation of who beat up Mayella Ewella and why he did it. According to Tom, Mayella was blatantly attempting to seduce him. She grabbed him around both legs while he was standing on a chair. Then he is forced by the judge to answer Atticus' question, "What happened after that?" Tom says:

"Mr. Finch, I got down offa that chair an' turned around an' she sorta jumped on me."

"Jumped on you? Violently?"

"No suh, she--she hugged me. She hugged me round the waist."

"Then what did she do?"

"She reached up an' kissed me 'side of th' face. She says she never kissed a grown man before an' she might as well kiss a nigger. She says what her papa do to her don't count."

At about this point the girl's father yells at her through the window. According to Tom's temtimony:

"He says you god-damn whore, I'll kill ya.

Tom Robinson's obvious reluctance to divulge any of these details makes them all the more believable. Any impartial jury would acquit him of the charges against him, but the all-white jury is hardly impartial. Even though Bob Ewell and the whole Ewell family are regarded as "white trash," they are still favored over the black Tom Robinson.

It is obvious that Bob Ewell has been having an incestuous relationship with his daughter Mayella. It is also obvious that Mayella's testimony, which takes up most of Chapter 18, is unreliable. Her father must have beaten her and threatened her with more of the same punishment if she did not testify that Tom Robinson raped her. She has only had two or three years of schooling. She is cunning but not intelligent. Atticus' cross-examination exposes numerous contradictions in her story. It is also in Chapter 18 that the reader learns that Tom Robinson's left arm and left hand are virtually useless, so it would have been impossible for him to blacken her left eye with his right fist.

Since Bob Ewell was the only other person present, and since he was in a rage at what he saw through the window, it is apparent that he must have been the man who beat up Mayella.