How are mockingbirds significant to the novel To Kill a Mockingbird?

Mockingbirds represent innocent beings and are a significant symbol throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. In Chapter 10, Jem and Scout are playing with their air rifles and Atticus says, "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird" (Lee 119). Miss Maudie elaborates on Atticus' rule by telling Scout,

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird" (Lee 119).

Mockingbirds can also symbolically represent any innocent beings, like Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. Both Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are kind, helpful individuals who do nothing to bother or harm anybody. After Tom is shot dead trying to escape from jail, Mr. Underwood writes an interesting piece in his editorial. Scout mentions,

"Mr. Underwood didn't talk about miscarriages of justice, he was writing so children could understand. Mr. Underwood simply figured it was a sin to kill cripples, be they standing, sitting, or escaping. He likened Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children..." (Lee 323).

In the previous passage, Harper Lee draws the connection between killing mockingbirds and killing innocent beings. They are essentially the same thing. Later on in the novel, Scout applies Atticus' lesson about not killing mockingbirds to Boo Radley's situation. When Atticus asks Scout if she understands why Sheriff Tate is not going to tell the community about Boo's heroics, Scout says, "We'll, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?" (Lee 370). Scout learns the importance of defending and respecting the lives of innocent beings from Atticus defending Tom against the prejudiced community of Maycomb and telling her that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird.