In the title of the novel, the phrase “to kill a mockingbird” symbolizes the action of stripping innocence from a person. For instance, when Atticus talked about how it was a sin to kill a mockingbird, Miss Maudie explained to Scout that it was because mockingbirds sang to people and did not harm people, showing that they are very innocent creatures. Thus, killing a mockingbird is equivalent to killing something, or someone, that is innocent; or just simply taking away one’s innocence. In addition, when Mr. Underwood called Tom Robinson’s death as a “senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children” (Lee 323), he inevitably suggested that Tom and the “supposed mockingbirds”, are together innocent and the death of Tom is the stripping…show more content… People in distress, including the author, often feel oppressed and trapped. They often feel like they are held captive and limited in a psychological prison, or cage, of their own without any hope for escape or freedom of mind. For example, the main character in the story chose to confine herself in her own cage by becoming “depressed and withdrawn”, refusing to talk or gossip in class and “sopped around the house, the Store, the school and the church like an old biscuit, dirty and inedible” (Angelou 405). The evidences showed that Maya was confined in depression. In addition, according to the title, the caged bird had a song and the song resembled its way of hoping to be free. Just like the caged bird, the depressed and withdrawn Maya learned of her song from Mrs. Flowers, poetry. Being a combination of literature and language, poetry encouraged Maya to speak, to open up, and to have some hope in escaping depression. Thanks to poetry, and the help of Mrs. Flowers, Marguerite started to sing like the caged bird, figuratively. The image of the caged bird in the title had skillfully symbolized the psychological confinement of a depressed human being, better known as the