Answer:
The trial continues, with the whole town glued to the proceedings. Mayella, who testifies next, is a reasonably clean—by the Ewells' standards—and obviously terrified nineteen-year-old girl. ... Atticus pleads with Mayella to admit that there was no r*a*p*e, that her father beat her.
Mayella takes the stand. Scout can tell that Mayella tries but fails to keep clean, and she thinks of the geraniums in the Ewell yard. Mr. Gilmer asks Mayella to share what happened. Mayella promptly bursts into tears and says that she’s afraid of Atticus. Judge Taylor assures her that Atticus won’t scare her. Mayella says that Mr. Ewell had asked her to chop up a “chiffarobe” (dresser) for firewood, but she asked Tom to do it for a nickel instead. She went inside to get the money and he choked her and raped her. She agrees that she screamed and fought and says that she doesn’t remember much until Mr. Tate arrived.
Again, Mayella’s geraniums help Scout to see that Mayella is a person, just like everyone else in the room—being a Ewell doesn’t change that. Because of Mayella’s lack of education and the fact that she doesn’t fit into polite Maycomb society, Atticus’s manner of speech toward her father and his insinuation that Mr. Ewell was the one who beat Mayella is probably terrifying and overwhelming for her.