in reverse

[Vladv1]

"Maria later claimed Bon asked her to marry him – ‘He wanted to marry a virgin’ – and that she would have let him too, were it not for the fact she knew darn well that if he wasn’t getting his rocks off with her it was with someone else, some other ‘scrag’ from the gig. Around her, though, he was always on his best behaviour, never swearing, never drinking. Coming from a country riven by sectarianism, Protestant Isa found herself placed on the back foot again by her son’s apparently insatiable desire to ignore other people’s rules. Not only was Maria a ‘pape’, she was a stuck-up one at that, according to Isa. Maria’s parents had a similar problem, in reverse, with their daughter dating this scruffy larrikin from up the road. Surely she could do a lot better for herself? But parental disapproval was nothing new to Bon, and, besides, he couldn’t keep away from Maria. When Maria showed that she, too had enough about her to ignore the barrage of abuse from her parents by taking a job at the Fremantle docks, moving in with her brother Joe to an apartment of their own in order to be nearer to where Bon’s folks lived, Bon began to spend all his free time with her".
Mick Wall, "Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be".

What does "in reverse" refer to in other words here? Does "in reverse" mean that her parens didn't like the fact that Bon was Protestant?

 

[5jj]

Yes.

 

[Vladv1]

Yes.

Does "with their daughter dating this scruffy larrikin from up the road' refer to "in reverse" as well? Sounds strange to me. Please comment.

 

[jutfrank]

It's both the fact that he's Protestant and the fact that he comes from a lower class.

 

[Vladv1]

It's both the fact that he's Protestant and the fact that he comes from a lower class.

Could you please explain the function of "with" in "with their daughter dating this scruffy larrikin from up the road". It is not the "with" that is used in "We came with him" Could you comment please?

 

[jutfrank]

The pattern is:

have a problem with something