The Switchman (Original title: El Guardagujas) is an existentialist short story by Mexican writer Juan José Arreola.
It was republished ten years later along with other published works by Arreola at that time in the collection El Confabulario total.
When he asks if the train has left, the old man wonders if the traveler has been in the country very long and advises him to find lodging at the local inn for at least a month.
The "switchman" tells the stranger that the country is famous for its railroad system; though many timetables and tickets have been produced, the trains do not follow them well.
The railroad management was so pleased that they decided to suspend any official bridge building and instead encourage the stripping and recreation of future trains.
Though Arreola is considered one of Mexico’s premier historical writers today, his stories did not deal with the usual type of social commentary on Mexican life.
Though some consider him to be a pioneer in the field on non-realistic literature, critics of him felt that social conditions in Mexico demanded a more realistic examination of the inequalities.
[3] Like most of Arreola's stories, The Switchman can be interpreted in a variety of ways—as an allegory of the pitfalls of the Mexican train system, an existential horror story of life's absurdities and human limitation, and the author's desire to laugh in spite of the insanities of the world and human interaction.
[4] On one level the story operates as a satire on the Mexican transportation system, while on another the railroad is an analogy for the hopeless absurdity of the human condition.