Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (3)

Huck and Jim continue in their "adventures" with the dauphin and the duke and their shenanigans and ripoffs. It starts to get out of hand, and to the point where the dauphin and duke's actions grow more insensitive and mean. They rip off one crowd, and another the next night; after the crowd, knowingly, witness a terrible show and tell more people to go, since it was so "wonderful". Jim becomes a little introspective as he reflects on  his old family and misses them. He regrets beating his daughter for not listening to something he told her to do, to later find out that she because deaf from scarlet fever. They all travel to the next town on a steamboat and encounter a man who believes the duke and dauphin to be his nieces  two lost English uncles, and the duke and dauphin inherit money that was entitled to "them".
These chapters begin to show how cruel the duke and dauphin really are in their schemes, and leads me to believe it will only get worse the longer Jim and Huck stay with them. One person who draws a very large contrast with the duke and dauphin is Jim. He shows a sympathetic side, and opens up emotionally to Huck. From Jim's willingness to open up to Huck, Huck is introduced to a new dimension of humans, and begins to see Jim more as a person than a slave.
The next few chapters are Huck's resolutions to the problems that the duke and dauphin have created, including taking money that isn't entitled to them, seperating a slave family, and telling their "nieces" that they will take them to England. Huck tells one of the Wilks girls (one of the nieces), the entire truth, tells her to go away for a while and not see her "uncles". He hides the money in the coffin, which is sealed, and he later leaves a letter letting the Wilks family know to dig it up. This shows a large step in Huck's development, as he begins to listen to his conscience.

The two real "uncles" appear and the duke and dauphin are exposed as frauds, and to discover which is real, a dispute over a tattoo on the chest of the body is debated. As they go to check, they all find the money, and within the clamor, Huck and Jim escape to the raft and ditch the con men. Huck dances in joy, but it quickly comes to an end when they both approach the raft. Angered, the dauphin almost strangles Huck, but they both think each other are responsible for the money in the coffin to retrieve later without the other knowing. 

The four sail downstream nonstop for days to avoid anyone who has heard of them, and they stop to sketch out the area they arrive in. Huck makes a break for it and realizes that Jim is not at the boat. Here is when Huck's morality and judgement is put to the test. He hears that Jim is captured and sold based off of the fake warrant that the dauphin made earlier in the story, and is stuck on whether or not he should write a letter to Miss Watson, who would sell him anyway, pray for forgiveness for helping a slave escape, or help Jim. He is overcome by the predicament, then finally says, "All right then, I'll go to hell!" and decides to steal Jim out of slavery after considering the raft rides, their friendship, and his kind heart. 

Huck's exclamation, I feel, is significant. After being raised to practice religion, and pray to God in times of trouble, he attempts and, for Jim, decides to "go to hell". He considers Jim being a slave, and himself a white boy, and his kindheartedness, despite being Black. Huck's exclamation shows that he searches the social and religious beliefs he was taught growing up, and finally realizes that he cannot believe them any longer. He cares too much about Jim, and puts his fate at risk for his. Huck finally follows his conscience rather than following the beliefs he was taught, showing a large step in maturity.