Why did Pecola Breedlove want blue eyes?

Pecola Breedlove has been told from the earliest age that she's ugly. At home and at school, everyone feels free to criticize and belittle Pecola on account of her looks. The sad fact is that if you tell a child that she's ugly often enough, then eventually she'll start to believe it. And that's what happens to Pecola.
Suffering from unimaginable abuse and a chronic lack of self-esteem, Pecola prays to God to give her blue eyes, thinking they will make her beautiful. She's internalized the prevailing norms concerning beauty, but as an African American, she will never be able to live up to the standards set by white society. But she doesn't realize this, and she becomes dangerously obsessed with the idea that being considered beautiful will somehow make all her problems go away.