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The title of Harper Lee’s classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird relates significantly to the plot and characters in the novel. Without the symbolic references to a mockingbird the story line would have no relevance and less significance. When Atticus tells Jem and Scout to, "Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird," he is referring to the notion the …

…who they truly are, they are unjustly persecuted. When Scout returns from the Radley house at the end of the novel, she tells Atticus that, "He (Boo) was real nice" (281). Atticus responds, "Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them." Had the attitudes of the people of Maycomb been as open as those of Scout and Atticus, there would no doubt be many more mockingbirds enlightening Maycomb and far fewer sinners destroying the town.