What’s Up With the Title?

The title of To Kill a Mockingbird comes from something both Atticus and Miss Maudie tell Jem and Scout: “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (10.7, 10.9). There’s more on mockingbirds as a symbol in “Symbols, Imagery, Allegory,” but why make this phrase the title?

And why isn’t the book called It’s a Sin To Kill a Mockingbird? That would make the meaning clearer, right? Or perhaps the meaning is supposed to be vague, to make the reader picking up the novel in a bookstore or library wonder what it means. Why would anyone want to kill a mockingbird? – which is, of course, a useful question to keep in mind while reading the book. So before the novel even begins, the title starts raising questions about the uses, or perhaps uselessness, of violence.