“Rise up and continue”
Mulan“Rise up and continue” is Ba’s instruction to Mulan, returning to her as she struggles to keep hold of Lu Ting-Pin’s gourd in the waves. Repeated in time with the water, the words turn her father’s teaching into a resolve she can act on: she tightens her hold and keeps going.
Origin in Ba’s Teaching
Mulan remembers an earlier moment when she was ashamed and tearful after trying to glue the village shrine statue back together. Ba helped her hold its broken pieces and told her, “Your job is to bring honor to your family,” adding, “Every day, you must rise up and continue.” The expression thus carries both a family duty and a practical instruction to persist after a setback.
Return in the Waves
As the waves begin to calm, Mulan’s arms are failing from repeatedly gripping the gourd, submerging, and striking the water. Remembering Ba’s words, she hears the refrain again and again, its rhythm matching the water’s climb and fall. She whispers that she is trying, even as the gourd starts to slip away. When she hears Lu Ting-Pin, she says weakly that she only helped; the corners of her mouth curve slightly. Thinking that Ba was a mighty warrior and that she will try to be like him, she tightens her arms around the gourd again.
Narrative Function
The phrase links Mulan’s present exertion to a specific memory of Ba helping her with the broken statue. Its repetition marks the shift from dwindling strength to renewed effort without suggesting that her exhaustion has disappeared: she remains weak, but acts again. The return of the instruction also clarifies what honoring her family means to her in this moment—not simply meeting an expectation, but rising and continuing when she is close to giving up.
