Quote 1
Frieda and she had a long conversation about how cu-ute Shirley Temple was. I couldn't join them in their adoration because I hated Shirley. (1.1.35)
Claudia uses the example of Shirley Temple to differentiate herself from Frieda and Pecola, and what she perceives as their internalized racism.
Quote 2
Occasionally an item provoked a physical reaction: an increase of acid irritation in the upper intestinal tract, a light flush of perspiration at the back of the neck....The sofa, for example. It had been purchased new, but the fabric had split straight across the back by the time it was delivered. (1.2.6)
An ugly sofa becomes a symbol of poverty.
Quote 3
This disrupter of seasons was a new girl in school named Maureen Peal. A high-yellow dream child with long brown hair braided into two lynch ropes that hung down her back. She was rich, at least by our standards, as rich as the richest of white girls, swaddled in comfort and care. The quality of her clothes threatened to derange Frieda and me. (2.4.3)
Maureen's skin color seems tied to her class status in complex ways.