Brewer often serves as a symbol and embodiment of the various states of mind Angstrom experiences throughout the course of the Rabbit novels. For example, in Rabbit Redux, Angstrom's isolation and feelings of being trapped are reflected in the book's description of Brewer as a "stagnant city" and a wasteland characterized by a "desolate openness", as well as his home as a "spacecraft" floating through a monotonous setting filled with uncaring residents. Likewise, in Rabbit at Rest, in which Angstrom's health is on the decline, Brewer is described as a city of decline and decay, its diminishing, with what Mazzeno describes as a "diminished virility" that matches that of Angstrom himself. Conversely, after Angstrom survives a heart attack in Rabbit at Rest, he views Brewer with a renewed sense of optimism and beauty: at one point, he travels through a tunnel of Bradford pear trees and describes it as if it is heaven. Similarly, in one passage of Rabbit, Run, Brewer serves as what the narrative describes as "shelter of love" and "return to security" for Angstrom even as he experiences an existential crisis. Members of Angstrom's family experience similar mixed feelings about Brewer; for Harry's son Nelson, Brewer is a "home that has simultaneously nurtured and stifled him", according to Bailey.
