Winston has been tortured, in the Ministry of Love by O'Brien for days, maybe weeks or months, we never know. As the torture takes place he never becomes fully transformed until he loses the ability to love. At a certain stage during his torture Julia was the only thing he still loved. She was the only person that stood in the way of Winston loving Big Brother. He mentioned earlier in the novel that his love for her could never be broken, they would never be able to separate and he wouldn't be able to live with out ever seeing Julia again. O'Brien asks Winston and Julia, "You are prepared, the two of you, to separate and never see one another again? No broke in Julia. It appeared to Winston that a long time passed before he answered. ... No he said finally" (Orwell 142-3). The reason that love kept him from being fully transformed to what the government wanted him to be is that he is not suppose to feel love for anyone but Big Brother and the party. Julia is the only person he loves and until he betrays Julia and feels no love for her, he has not been fully altered into what O'Brien and the government want him to be. The Ministry of Love made Winston hate himself first by degrading him, making him appear like he was dying and then forcing him look at his own worn out decrepit reflection in the mirror. Winston began to hate himself. The hate for himself caused him to become uncertain of his own beliefs of Big Brother and the government and also doubtful of his love for Julia.
Until he went into Room 101 he still had love in himself. He Loved Julia, even