Mr Fitts is Ricky's father; he is strict, discipline loving and brutal man. This is shown by Ricky having to be tested every 6 weeks for drug consumption, also when Ricky shows Jane his father's Nazi plate; Mr Fitts brutally beats up his son. He is a former military veteran who is still in touch with the political side of America, even when people greet him he always refers to himself as, " colonel Fitts U.S Marine corps". He is a man of little or no affection; his wife and son still need to call him sir and he hardly or doesn't have a relationship with his wife, as they never communicate directly throughout the movie. Mr Fitts is an old-fashioned man; this is shown by the way he does his hair, which is a representation of the army. .
Mr Fitts represents the other type of American family, which is in complete contrast to the Burnham's, Mr Fitts makes all the decisions without consultation with anyone. Its as if Mr Fitts is living in his own world in his house, sticking to his former army life (this is depicted in the scene where all three family members are forced to watch T.V where there's an army update) and not tolerating or respecting anything that wavers from his attitude. (E.g. he hates homosexuals) He is extremely focused on raising Ricky to be like himself, which is one of the main reasons why he sent his son to a military school for two years as he thought that locking him up for some time would give him discipline that Colonel Fitts is always preaching about.
Mr Fitts doesn't have much of a personality besides being strict; this is likely to be because it was suppressed in the army. Colonel Fitts symbolises all the people in America who are generally very conservative and narrow-minded, people who cant see or compromise on their rigid morals, and change with the times. When the two gay neighbours come to welcome them to the neighbourhood Colonel Fitts thinks that they are trying to sell him something, thus showing his narrow mindedness and backward thinking.
