Why Mary-Anne, WHY?

So I enjoy reading. I learned to read at an early age, but I think I thought WAY to much about what I was reading, even as a kid. Take this for example



I'm sure many of you have read this book, or at least heard of it. It's all about a man named Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel (obviously.) Well all the big diesel digging machines are putting Ol' Mike and his shovel, Mary-Anne, out of work. He finds a small town and offers to dig the cellar in a single day. They laugh at him and he proves them wrong. Him and Mary-Anne dig that cellar just in time. Except he forgets to leave a ramp to get OUT of the cellar. HE eventually is offered a job as the janitor and Mary-Anne is converted into the city hall's boiler. A cute little kids story. That always bugged the hell out of me.

Get a good look at that steam shovel. It has eyes and a very obvious mouth. Now, never ONCE in this book do they say if it is just a design like you might suspect in a kids book, where anthropomorphizing something is common. Or is it like The Little Engine That Could? A thinking semi-living being? For some reason as a kid that bothered me. Was Mary-Anne alive? Her facial did expressions seemed to change, could she speak? If so, why does Mike get most of the credit? Obviously SHE did all the work, not him! He just sat inside her! How did it feel to have her insides literally ripped out to make room for boiler parts? Does she need to eat? WHY THE FACE? WHY DOES THE MACHINE HAVE A FACE!?

I guess in many ways I was a messed up little kid.