LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 07 - In the House of Tom Bombadil

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Estelyn said,

Apparently not only Men, even the Dwarves do not like the East

Gimli is a dwarf of Erobor, Do you think he still has the fear of the east as the lonely mountain was in the east and inhabited by Smoug when he was a child. Perhaps in the years after Smoug came there the dwarves gained a fear and anger against the east. Maybe I'm assuming too much.

Now, I think we've stayed away from the chapter too much...

Near the beginning of the chapter, Gold Berry makes a statement;

'Then all this strange land belongs to him?'
'No indeed!" she answered, and her smile faded, 'That would indeed be a burden,' She added in a low voice, as if to herself.

Now, when she says this 'almost to herself', I got the strangest feeling that this was important. Her smile fades and she says this in a low voice, I think that this is, maybe, an indication of one of Tolkien's main messages in the whole book. That is that; Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
She says this as if she has seen it happen. Perhaps there was some master of the lands who came to some unfortunate fate. Or it may be that she is thinking of her mother, the river woman, perhaps she 'owns' the land, and so she knows how burdensome the power is.
However, by the same token, this could just be something Tolkien put in to add more of a mystery to the characters of Tom and Goldberry.
Any thought?