Lindsay's reason for rebelling

We can only assume that there was a lot of emotional investment with her grandmother that the viewers were never clued in on. I think the show was trying to cast a light on the women's lib movement of the 1970's. We could further theorize that she found mom and dad particularly suffocating intellectually. Kids often struggle to be direct with parents in terms of feelings because there is a struggle going on in terms of authority versus freedom.

Lindsay didn't rebel because her grandma died. She was very close with her, but she tells Sam that she was alone with her grandma when she was dying. Lindsay asked her if there was anything, like a light or something to prove their was something after this life, but her grandma told her no, there was nothing. She said that she was a good person all her life and when she died there was nothing.

She didn't "rebel" she just stopped caring because she figured there was nothing other than this life.

Just look at the episode where she got to the car accident. She immediately reverted to her old lifestyle because she realized actions do have consequences in this world.

I think her death hit her hard, that was why she always wore the same jacket, I think it was one of those am I living my life to the fullest moments, where is all this education going to get me, am I happy sort of moments, what am I missing out on, her journey doesn't finish within the season, it clearly had some ways to go. You could see her use her old life like a comfort zone when things got a little too crazy, she was a good person with a good upbringing and she was definitely learning that some of the crazy she exposed herself too was for her and other things not so much. She also learn't that judging a book by the cover was wrong and that some of the people she was encouraged to avoid were good people who made mistakes who were going through tough times themselves and deserved more of her time and more of a chance. She was also buckling under the pressure and expectation of her parents, teachers and peers and enjoyed that some people out there didn't really give a damn about how academic she was other than it was something to form a joke out of in the group banter, like shes smart, that's her thing.

Lindsay was a teenager. Teenagers typically rebel; it's part of growing up and becoming autonomous. Many teens rebel in small ways here and there; Lindsay had been a nose-to-the-grindstone "good" girl for as far back as she could remember. It stands to reason that when she rebelled, she rebelled hard.

I was very like Lindsay - shy, straight A's, socially inept. When I rebelled, in tenth grade, I started shoplifting, cutting school, and smoking cigarettes. Over the next five years or so I became a complete pot-head, burned more brain cells than I care to admit with nitrous oxide, drank like a fish, quit jobs left and right, and spent most of my time at the beach. A few years later I went back to school, finished out a college degree, and went right back to being the good girl I was born to be.

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Can we really rationalize why teenagers do anything? You can have 5 teenagers go through the same traumatic experience and they will all react a different way and make up a lame excuse for their behavior. There's no "reason" for anything.

She didn't throw away her life she become a social worker after her escapade.