Quote 1
It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes...were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different." (1.3.18)
Pecola believes that physical appearance can alter one's psychological condition.
Quote 2
Thrown, in this way, into the binding conviction that only a miracle could relieve her, she would never know her beauty. She would only see what there was to see: the eyes of other people. (1.3.21)
Pecola lacks the self-esteem to not care what other people think.
Quote 3
She eats the candy, its sweetness is good. To eat the candy is somehow to eat the eyes, eat Mary Jane. Love Mary Jane. Be Mary Jane. (1.3.33)
Pecola's childlike thought patterns reveal themselves here: she believes that eating the eyes of a white girl could lead to becoming the white girl.
Quote 4
Dandelions. A dart of affection leaps out from her to them. But they do not look at her and do not send love back. She thinks, 'They are ugly. They are weeds.' Preoccupied with that revelation, she trips on the sidewalk crack. Anger stirs and wakes in her; it opens its mouth, and like a hot-mouthed puppy, laps up the dredges of her shame. Anger is better. There is a sense of being in anger. A reality and presence. An awareness of worth. (1.3.31)
Pecola identifies with and loves the weeds because they are ugly.
Quote 5
She eats the candy, its sweetness is good. To eat the candy is somehow to eat the eyes, eat Mary Jane. Love Mary Jane. Be Mary Jane. (1.3.33)
In Pecola's mind, loving Mary Jane seems to be associated with becoming her. This moment reminds us of Pecola's obsession with Shirley Temple. Pecola seems to love people that represent what she wants to be.
Quote 6
Into her eyes came the picture of Cholly and Mrs. Breedlove in bed. He making sounds as though he were in pain, as though something had him by the throat and wouldn't let go. Terrible as his noises were, they were not nearly as bad as the no noise at all from her mother. It was as though she was not even there. Maybe that was love. Choking sounds and silence. (1.3.54)
Even at such a young age, Pecola reveals her observant nature as she analyzes her parents' lovemaking. Key aspects of the Breedloves are revealed here: Cholly's painful sexual history and the fact that Pauline rarely, if ever, experiences sexual pleasure when with him.
Quote 7
And there wasn't nastiness, and there wasn't any filth, and there wasn't any odor, and there wasn't any groaning – just the light white laughter of little girls and me. And there wasn't any look – any long funny look – any long funny Velma look afterward. No look that makes you feel dirty afterward. That makes you want to die. With little girls it is all clean and good and friendly. (3.9.41)
Dirtiness here seems to be associated with a lack of power. Long looks make us feel accountable and recognized, and Soaphead cannot tolerate them. The fact that he longs to be looked at differently reminds us of Pecola, presenting another strange similarity between the two characters.
Quote 8
She eats the candy, its sweetness is good. To eat the candy is somehow to eat the eyes, eat Mary Jane. Love Mary Jane. Be Mary Jane. (1.3.33)
The simple language here matches the simplicity of Pecola's desire to be innocent, beautiful, and good.