Winston recalls O'Brien's dream message

After returning to his flat, Winston thinks of O'Brien and remembers a dream he had seven years earlier. In the dream he was walking through a pitch-dark room, and someone said, 'We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.' He later identified the voice as O'Brien's, though he cannot remember when or how. The words have taken on increasing significance over the years. Winston cannot be sure whether O'Brien is a friend or an enemy, but he feels a link of understanding between them. The phrase 'the place where there is no darkness' becomes a kind of code for their hidden connection.