I just finished watching this film for the third time and once again considered why Alan did not want to meet her. I think I know the answer but in these politically correct days others may not like (or want to know) my line of reasoning. But you have to remember that the film was made in 1965 and set in contemporary times, which were very different from now.
When Inga called the crisis center she was a woman in a desperate situation wand wanted to hang-on to something - anything. Alan, despite his inexperience or maybe because of it, was able to provide that something in the shape of himself. All the while they were talking, he would have formed a reasonably good mental picture of her (refer to his sketching of her) but the converse is not necessarily true. During the course of their conversation he was just another human being trying to help someone in desperation - the proverbial straw to a drowning person. But once Inga recovered in hospital, her conditioning would return and Inga's reaction to a black man would have been very different. She would have been thankful, of course but there was bound to be a certain awkward reservation which Alan, as an intelligent man, would have quickly detected. That would have been a psychological blow to him and spoiled what was essentially a successful effort. Bearing that in mind, he decided to hold back and not meet her, thus leaving her with the image of whatever she chose to make of him.
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