There are many times in the book Huck Finn prior to the scenario of Jim being captured by the Phelps family where Huck argues with himself over what he’s going to do concerning the runaway slave. A part of him knows that it’s wrong for him to be helping Jim escape, not only because he feels guilty for betraying the widow Douglas but because it’s highly illegal. At the same time, however, he has gradually grown to see Jim as not just another black man but as someone he can trust and count on in tough situations. Huck views Jim as more of a friend than as someone who’s lesser than him as a person. This bond that they've developed helps Huck make his decision.
When Huck realizes that he can’t just let Jim be sold off down the river and decides that, wrong or not, he’s going to steal Jim back, I thought it was a really brave thing for him to do. Not only because he could potentially be caught and punished severely, but also because Huck is essentially ignoring his own conscious for the benefit of his friend. This seems, to me, like a very noble thing for Huck to do because he always appears to be struggling with internal conflicts concerning Jim’s freedom. When he essentially says that he might as well go to hell for what he’s going to do, but he’ll do it anyway because he cares about Jim, it really sends home the entire idea that Huck respects Jim a lot despite him being a runaway.
Considering that this book was released in a time period where common white people wouldn’t dare think about stealing a slave to help them gain freedom, I think that Twain expected the people reading his novel to be shocked and perhaps even outraged at Huck’s decision. However, I think that the other reaction Twain was hoping to get was realization from his readers as to how morally unjust slavery really was. I think he wanted to make people see that just because they were white, they didn’t have to agree with the practice of owning slaves or looking down upon African Americans.
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