The Plan

From Hacker's plan, to the tyranny of the script, to God's demand that Abraham sacrifice Isaac, the plan is a force that limits individuality and free will. Woody Allen equates this force to that of religious faith, even though God, as God, only appears in the "The Scrolls." Elsewhere in the collection, the plan is depicted as a human failing, a willingness to be defined rather than to define oneself. This is true of Kleinman, who, despite all common sense, followed the plan to his death. It is also true of Euripides, who so loves being a slave that he fails to exercise his free will until it is almost too late.

To surrender oneself to the plan, Allen suggests, is to trade one's own interests for the interests of another. Kleinman doesn't want or need to be up and outside in the middle of the night...