The meaning of the phrase is that innocents deserve protection.
The mockingbird is symbolic to the story. Book titles often come from a meaningful message said by a character. In this book, when Jem and Scout get guns for Christmas, their father tells them to be careful where they point them.
Atticus said to Jem one day, “I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (Ch. 10)
Scout is puzzled, because she has never really heard her father say it is a sin to do anything. She asks Miss Maudie, a neighbor woman who is a good friend of Scout’s and does not talk down to her even though she is a little girl. Miss Maudie explains what Atticus meant by saying you should not shoot mockingbirds.
“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.” (Ch. 10)
Scout ponders this for a while. She realizes that some people target others who are vulnerable. She notices that there are several people in her society who are mockingbirds. Mr. Underwood compares Tom Robinson to a mockingbird when he is shot escaping prison. Underwood is a racist, but doesn’t approve of shooting a crippled, unarmed man.
Scout also compares Boo Radley to a mockingbird at the end of the book, when she realizes that he has been a victim too, and deserves protection. Scout has gone from seeing Boo as a monster to understanding that he is one of society's outcasts, a victim of a cruel world.
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